Lansley vetoes risk register move

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has vetoed the publication of a confidential risk assessment of the Government's contentious NHS reforms.

PUBLISHED: 17:02, Tue, May 8, 2012

Andrew Lansley said he believed in 'greater transparency' but has vetoed the publication of a risk a [PA]

The move to defy an Information Tribunal ruling that the risk register should be released was agreed by the Cabinet.

Mr Lansley said he believed in "greater transparency" but that it was also essential to retain "a safe space where officials are able to give ministers full and frank advice in developing policies and programmes".

The November 2010 register set out internal Government assessments of the risks posed by the reforms in the Health and Social Care Act, which became law in March after a tortuous passage through Parliament.

Labour MP John Healey called for the register to be published under the Freedom of Information Act - a demand backed by Information Commissioner Christopher Graham and then the Information Tribunal.

But the Cabinet agreed that the "ministerial veto" should be used to prevent publication.

Mr Lansley said: "Had we not taken this decision, it is highly likely that future sensitive risk registers would turn into anodyne documents, and be worded quite differently with civil servants worrying about how they sound to the public rather than giving ministers frank policy advice."

He said he was instead publishing a document setting out "key information" from the register but protecting its "language and form".

"This is not a step I have taken lightly. I am a firm believer in greater transparency and this Government and this department have done far more than our predecessors in publishing information about the performance and results of our policies.

"But there also needs to be safe space where officials are able to give ministers full and frank advice in developing policies and programmes."